7 ms·

>"BILL GATES, aged thirty-eight, is one of the richest men in the country—the richest in 1992, and the second richest, after the investor Warren Buffett, in 199

>"BILL GATES, aged thirty-eight, is one of the richest men in the country—the richest in 1992, and the second richest, after the investor Warren Buffett, in 1993, with a fortune of six billion one hundred and sixty million dollars, according to Forbes. " Very strange that only just 20-25 years ago, the richest people in the world were "only" worth <7,000,000,000

mojoe 10y ago
~12 billion inflation-adjusted, but your point stands.
- Jaruzel 10y ago
  How do you work out 'inflation adjusted' numbers? I've always wondered.
  - adventured 10y ago
    The Fed provides estimates on the devaluation of the dollar over time. You'll find all sorts of other well known institutions and individuals that provide their own formulas however. The spectrum is pretty wide, from those that agree with the Fed's numbers, to people that think the Fed is intentionally significantly understating inflation.
    - MagnumOpus 10y ago
      Though it must be said that the latter are cranks who are impossible to take seriously if you look into their claims - basically an MBA who went off the rail with conspiracy theories...
      - tim333 10y ago
        Not just cranks. There are quite a lot of choices as to how you calculate a price index and politics can easily enter in to which choice is taken. I'm not so up on the US index but the UK one tends to weight everyday stuff like the price of a loaf of bread in the supermarket but try coming to London and going to a trendy restaurant and staying in a nice hotel and you'll find those have gone up well above the official rate of inflation.
    - dredmorbius 10y ago
      It's actually (almost certainly for historical reasons) the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) who compute inflation measures, particularly the CPI, but also PPI (consumer and producer price indices, respectively). http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm It also probably makes sense for the Fed not to compute its own inflation index, as its mandate is to manage inflation (and unemployment). Managing a statistic you control might lead to unintended consequences.
  - fwn 10y ago
    Classic approach would be: You have an inflation rate (measured through a time series of Consumer Price Indices) for a given timeframe and an initial amount of money. Multiply it. It's just to compare purchasing power over time.
    - Ntrails 10y ago
      Expanding with an example... Really you just want to use the index itself. It represents (in theory) the amount you'd pay for a basket of goods. So say, for example, the Index was at 240 in 1992, but today that same index is 360. So for £100 of 1992 money in today's terms you'd do: 360/240 * 100 = £150 Essentially you just want the ratio of prices for the basket of goods.
      - Jaruzel 10y ago
        That's a great example, thank you. Where do I find the index numbers you refer to? I've googled, but stats are really not my strong point.
        richdougherty 10y ago
        Assuming you're in the US, you could look here: http://www.bls.gov/data/#prices http://www.bls.gov/data/#prices More information here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_price_index https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_price_index), including info about the appropriate US index to use.
  - fjarlq 10y ago
    Here's a quick overview, along with a calculator: https://www.measuringworth.com/calculators/uscompare/ https://www.measuringworth.com/calculators/uscompare/
nstj 10y ago
It would be more interesting to look at their wealth as a percentage of the world's wealth. We have greater output per capita (GDP) today than back then so while the nominal wealth amount may be considered low it's quite possible it was a higher percentage of the world's wealth back then than it is today.
- cel1ne 10y ago
  I'm pretty sure this is not the case. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_inequality_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_inequality_in_the_Unite...
  - nstj 10y ago
    There don't seem to be any relevant statistics on that Wikipedia page.
    - cel1ne 10y ago
      Ah, wrong link, here is a bit more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recent_Distribution_of_Wealth_in_the_World#In_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recent_Distribution_of_Wealth_...
      - nstj 10y ago
        From your link: > 1995: top 1% control 38.5% of wealth > 2010: top 1% control 35.4% of wealth I'm still not following your line of thought?
        cel1ne 10y ago
        Look at the numbers for 1980, but you're right, it's not a good example. My thought is that it's established that there's a percental wealth/income gap that's getting larger, not smaller. It might not be very enlightening to classify just 99% / 1% here, though.
monort 10y ago
For comparison: US money supply (M2) was $3400 billion in 1992 and it is $12700 billion now.

mojoe 10y ago

~12 billion inflation-adjusted, but your point stands.

Jaruzel 10y ago
How do you work out 'inflation adjusted' numbers? I've always wondered.
- adventured 10y ago
  The Fed provides estimates on the devaluation of the dollar over time. You'll find all sorts of other well known institutions and individuals that provide their own formulas however. The spectrum is pretty wide, from those that agree with the Fed's numbers, to people that think the Fed is intentionally significantly understating inflation.
  - MagnumOpus 10y ago
    Though it must be said that the latter are cranks who are impossible to take seriously if you look into their claims - basically an MBA who went off the rail with conspiracy theories...
    - tim333 10y ago
      Not just cranks. There are quite a lot of choices as to how you calculate a price index and politics can easily enter in to which choice is taken. I'm not so up on the US index but the UK one tends to weight everyday stuff like the price of a loaf of bread in the supermarket but try coming to London and going to a trendy restaurant and staying in a nice hotel and you'll find those have gone up well above the official rate of inflation.
  - dredmorbius 10y ago
    It's actually (almost certainly for historical reasons) the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) who compute inflation measures, particularly the CPI, but also PPI (consumer and producer price indices, respectively). http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm It also probably makes sense for the Fed not to compute its own inflation index, as its mandate is to manage inflation (and unemployment). Managing a statistic you control might lead to unintended consequences.
- fwn 10y ago
  Classic approach would be: You have an inflation rate (measured through a time series of Consumer Price Indices) for a given timeframe and an initial amount of money. Multiply it. It's just to compare purchasing power over time.
  - Ntrails 10y ago
    Expanding with an example... Really you just want to use the index itself. It represents (in theory) the amount you'd pay for a basket of goods. So say, for example, the Index was at 240 in 1992, but today that same index is 360. So for £100 of 1992 money in today's terms you'd do: 360/240 * 100 = £150 Essentially you just want the ratio of prices for the basket of goods.
    - Jaruzel 10y ago
      That's a great example, thank you. Where do I find the index numbers you refer to? I've googled, but stats are really not my strong point.
      - richdougherty 10y ago
        Assuming you're in the US, you could look here: http://www.bls.gov/data/#prices http://www.bls.gov/data/#prices More information here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_price_index https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_price_index), including info about the appropriate US index to use.
- fjarlq 10y ago
  Here's a quick overview, along with a calculator: https://www.measuringworth.com/calculators/uscompare/ https://www.measuringworth.com/calculators/uscompare/

nstj 10y ago

It would be more interesting to look at their wealth as a percentage of the world's wealth. We have greater output per capita (GDP) today than back then so while the nominal wealth amount may be considered low it's quite possible it was a higher percentage of the world's wealth back then than it is today.

cel1ne 10y ago
I'm pretty sure this is not the case. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_inequality_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_inequality_in_the_Unite...
- nstj 10y ago
  There don't seem to be any relevant statistics on that Wikipedia page.
  - cel1ne 10y ago
    Ah, wrong link, here is a bit more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recent_Distribution_of_Wealth_in_the_World#In_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recent_Distribution_of_Wealth_...
    - nstj 10y ago
      From your link: > 1995: top 1% control 38.5% of wealth > 2010: top 1% control 35.4% of wealth I'm still not following your line of thought?
      - cel1ne 10y ago
        Look at the numbers for 1980, but you're right, it's not a good example. My thought is that it's established that there's a percental wealth/income gap that's getting larger, not smaller. It might not be very enlightening to classify just 99% / 1% here, though.

monort 10y ago

For comparison: US money supply (M2) was $3400 billion in 1992 and it is $12700 billion now.